


On Our Own Axis

by surpanakha



Category: Orphan Black (TV), cophine
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-12-29 19:44:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12092103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surpanakha/pseuds/surpanakha
Summary: Thirty years ago, the scientists at DYAD made a mistake in Leda project's cloning procedure which they don't intend to correct today. The Leda clones are dying one by one. The remaining clones, Sarah, Alison, MK, and Helena, locked up inside DYAD since their birth, send for their trusted doctor Delphine Cormier to warn Cosima, a clone who's surrogate parent was able to get away, about the disease which would soon inflict her.





	1. Five Women

**Author's Note:**

> Please pardon the French. I am Asian, and I am using only google translate. I hope you enjoy and please don't forget to leave a comment if you like :)

"How are you feeling?" a blonde woman with a French accent asked her patient as she just finished shooting a canister of stem cells into the mass on her ovaries. Delphine rolled down the sleeves of her laboratory coat, shivering as she removed her latex gloves and set the sterile equipment aside. 

"Well, I'm on spinal so I really can't feel anything," Sarah responded, smiling at her physician. She turned her attention to the woman at the corner of the bare white operating room. "Oi, Alison, turn up the heat will yah? Our Delphine is shivering." The woman, who bore a strikingly similar semblance to Sarah, tiptoed to reach the thermostat of the heater.

"I wonder why," Sarah began as she relaxed on the operating bed, "with all the money they're probably making from us, can't they afford to centralize the heating in this hospital wing."

"Ah, what do they care? we're not people to them anyway," another woman responded with a raspy voice. This woman, also bearing the same face as Sarah and Alison, yet sporting bleached blonde locks, was lying down on a bed next to Sarah's, her own procedure done. 

"Oh my god, Helena! Why can't you keep your voice lower? The walls have ears!" Alison reprimanded the woman sharply. Helena merely shrugged as Delphine shook her head in warning. The three fell silent as an orderly entered the small operating room to take away the equipment. Delphine smiled and thanked the orderly as she shut the door behind him. Helena and Sarah waited for the effects of their spinal anesthesia to wear off as Alison paced back and forth. Delphine hummed a silent tune she remembers from a distant childhood memory. 

A few minutes later, another woman entered the room, bearing yet the same semblance as Sarah, Alison, and Helena. 

"MK! Finally!" Alison exclaimed as she took a chair and sat down beside Delphine. MK tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear as she set her laptop case down on Sarah's bed. Unlike the other three who kept their hair long, MK maintained her own dark locks above her shoulder. She took a deep breath as she opened her bag and took out her computer.

"I'm so sorry for being late, I had to help to put out a small fire down in the university wing," MK said as she caught her breath.

"Fire? What fire?" Alison arched an eyebrow up.

"A Castor glitched. Was it Ira, or Rudy? I really don't remember, they all look the same to me," MK said as she tapped keys on her computer.

"Good thing we Leda don't glitch, eh?" Sarah said, smiling. Helena grumbled, which was not the reaction she was shooting for.

"Yeah, we just die," Helena said. A chorus of heys and ois emanated from the crowd around Helena. 

"I miss Katja and Beth, too," MK muttered under her breath.

"I am doing my best to find a cure, I really am," Delphine spoke for the first time since Sarah's procedure. She looked down her lap and picked her nails, her fingers shivering. Alison and now Sarah glared at Helena.

"Delphine, darling, we know you are," Sarah said. She tried to reach out to the blonde but her anesthesia has not yet worn off. It was Alison who placed her palm on Delphine's back.

"Yes, and we appreciate everything," Alison added, nodding at Helena's direction, urging her to say something.

"I'm sorry Delphine if it came off like that, you know I would never..," Helena hesitated, then sighed. "You are the only one who saw us as people."

"Yes that's true," MK joined. "And we can only thank you for what you are about to do for us."

"Yes, of course, anything for you," Delphine responded quickly. "I,I,I am your family, right?" she said, unsure.

"Oh, Delphine, come here," Alison said, giving the blonde a tight hug from behind. Delphine's body grew stiff, but Alison, oblivious to it, didn't let her friend go. Delphine eventually relaxed in Alison's arms.

"Which is why," Alison started, finally letting go of Delphine, "I'm not so sure anymore of what we're asking Delphine to do."

"What? You want to back out?" Helena said. The other blonde tried to sit up straight but her spinal got the better of her.

"We can't have that at the last minute, eh? If we are to do this, we have to be solid behind Delphine," Sarah added.

"Yes, as sestras!" Helena agreed.

"It's dangerous! Delphine has never been out alone on her own. We think we're behind her but all we will be doing is to sit around here and wait for her to update us as she does the dirty work. I will feel responsible!"

"Alison, we took a vote!" Helena and Sarah said in unison.

"And, we're not so sure of this Cosima wants to be entangled in all our shit. She managed, by some stroke of luck, to escape the life we have. Let us leave her be," Alison reasoned.

"The life she has will soon end without her knowing it if we don't push through," Sarah said, now glaring at Alison. 

"Delphine," MK said softly, looking up from her computer. "It's all up to you. It's your life, too. Whatever you choose, we'd all be more than grateful." MK nodded, smiling sincerely. 

Delphine looked at the women around her. The four remaining Leda clones under her care. Three had been claimed by the genetic disease now haunting Sarah and Helena before she was leased out to the project three years ago. Two had already died under her care, Katja then Beth. Alison and MK have yet to show symptoms, which would come sooner or later. They were clones after all.

They look so alike yet so different. The same almond eyes, same heart shaped face. Their nurses and professors could tell them apart by their hair, but Delphine knew that even if they all suddenly go bald, she would know which one was which by heart. 

And her heart told her the right thing to do.

"I'll do it," Delphine said. "I'm sorry Alison, but if I am about to die, I'd like to know that I have a chance," she said, looking at Alison. Alison wiped away the tears pooling around her eyes and squeezed Delphine's shoulder.

"Besides, I have nothing to lose."

"Alright, let's do this," MK said, biting her tongue. "Delphine, have you got all your necessary identification, your passport, tickets?"

"Yes, I'm meeting Siobhan this afternoon, after I disappear from the premises," Delphine answered.

"I'm sorry, who's Siobhan?" Alison asked.

"It's a long story and MK will fill you in when I'm gone but, months back I did some digging when Leekie and myself went to London, and I managed to find the original, the source of the DNA material for both the Castor and the Leda projects. Siobhan is the original's daughter. She's also kind of a hustler and they are helping me get to Cosima," Delphine explained. "After I get to Cosima, I'll proceed to work with Siobhan and the original to find a cure for all of you. A real cure this time."

"You mean to say, you were able to do what a multinational has failed to do all these years? Find the original?" Sarah asked, propping her torso up. "Well done, Delphine."

"It's not much. I'm pretty sure DYAD could have found her, except, I don't think they are actually looking. They think the original is dead," Delphine said.

"And they're not really looking for a cure, aren't they?" Sarah asked.

"It's not their priority," Delphine swallowed. The truth was hard to take but they have the right to know. That's why they planned this mission to contact Cosima in the first place. "At first I thought that was the reason why I was leased out to DYAD, but then I got the hunch that they just want someone who can be controlled to keep an eye on you. They actually want to study the life cycle of this disease. And that includes letting you die," Delphine replied. A collective sigh was heard around the room. Behind her, Delphine heard Alison stifle her cry.

"But don't worry. These stem cells will buy us time, and I'd have more freedom to work outside, Siobhan has plenty of connections, it's really impressive," Delphine nodded, enthusiastic. "No more Leda clone is going to die under my watch. Not even Cosima. I won't let you."

"Alright, so you'd be flying out to Toronto tomorrow?" Sarah asked, changing the topic.

"No, if she flies directly to Toronto, it would be easy to track her, right, Delphine?," MK replied.

"Oui. I'd be using the passport I've used when traveling with Leekie, so I'm sure there would be no problems. But I'm flying to Quebec City and then I'd be taking bus transfers to Toronto. That way I'll lose my trail," Delphine said.

"Alright then, we have our phone and you have yours, all our power banks are charged so there's no need for us to sneak out and find free electric outlets, you have the stem cells for Cosima?," MK asked.

"That's all taken cared of," Delphine replied.

"Alright, what are we still missing?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, one last thing," Delphine said. She stood up and went to the medical supplies cabinet to retrieve a scalper, a pair of tweezers, two pairs of gloves, a syringe and a medical suture kit. She placed these items on a tray. Then she went over to the medicine cabinet and proceeded to fill the syringe with local anesthesia. She placed the needle of the syringe inside her mouth, on the wall of her right cheek, and released the fluid.

Delphine threw the syringe in the trash bin and approached one of the beds beside Sarah with the tray. She proceeded to lie down as she set the tray on the table by her bed. 

"You'd have to remove the worm in my cheek," Delphine said, almost slurring. The anesthetic was taking effect. "That's how Leekie tracks me. MK, take the scalpel, Alison, can you assist her please."

"Of course," Alison quipped. She and MK approached Delphine's bed to start the procedure. MK turned on the headlight and focused it on Delphine's face.

"Be careful not to damage the worm, or else," Delphine started.

"Or else what?" Alison asked, suspicious.

"Or else, it's going to detect that it's being removed and proceed to release poison which would kill me instantaneously. It's one of the ways they make sure that I don't go astray."

"What the hell, Delphine?! How can you say that with a straight face?" Alison asked, dropping her gloves back to the table. "And why do I have to be responsible for this?"

"Because your two other sestras are paralyzed from the waist down?" Sarah quipped, annoyed.

"She's right, I'm afraid you have no choice Alison, you have to assist MK. It's a delicate procedure, but I had her practice on removing pomegranate seeds one by one, didn't I?" Delphine assured Alison. "Je suis profondément désolé."

"Alright, fine, fine! I'll do my best. I'm good at crafts so that should account for something, right?" Alison replied.

"Of course," Delphine gave Alison a reassuring smile as she relaxed on the bed.

"Okay, I'll do everything, just assist me," MK told Alison. Alison nodded and held her breath. 

After thirty minutes, Delphine was rinsing her mouth by the sink. She spat out the blood from her cheek and washed it down with tap water.

"Je vous remercie," Delphine whispered, caressing her jaw.

"For a second there, I thought we had murdered you," Alison remarked, still white face. She wiped the sweat from underneath her bangs and removed her gloves.

"What do we do with the worm?" MK asked.

"In the refrigerator you will find a beaker of electrolyte gel I prepared. Drop the worm inside. It should mimic the electrolytes in the blood," Delphine instructed. Alison went to the fridge and handed MK the beaker. MK dropped the worm which she held carefully with the tweezers.

"Now, don't forget to move it several times a day so he'll think I'm moving normally inside DYAD. On the fourth day, destroy the worm."

"What's on the fourth day?" Sarah asked.

"The day after Leekie's birthday. He would surely drop by to know why I didn't come to visit. I am going to use his birthday as an excuse to leave the premises. I think by that time I would be able to put a safe distance between us. But you must destroy the worm because you can't be implicated in my disappearance."

MK and the rest of the clones nodded. 

"That's it. Our preparation is over. Now my real work shall begin," Delphine said, forcing a smile.

"When are you leaving?" Sarah asked.

"Now. I'll just wait for the effects of my anesthetic to subside. My things are already packed and waiting in my room. In fact, I should be heading to my living quarters."

"We'll see you to the elevator," MK said. She and Alison stood up to accompany Delphine as she turned to knob to the door of the operating room.

"Thank you, sestra Delphine," Helena said. Delphine nodded. She wanted to give the clones a tight hug each, but she didn't want it to seem like she's saying goodbye, so she placed her hands inside her pockets.

"I'll see you on video call when I'm finally with Cosima and everything goes smoothly, but expect a call from me tonight," Delphine said, as she left the room with MK and Alison.

About ten minutes later, the two clones returned to join Sarah and Helena in the operating room. Sarah was already sitting up, the effects of the spinal having somewhat subsided.

"We just left her by the elevator. Accompanying her to the top floors would arouse suspicion," MK exclaimed.

"Do you think we can pull this off? An elaborate plan by four women who never had control of their lives?" Alison asked. She crossed her arms and began pacing the room.

"Make that five women, she also falls in that category," Helena said, glancing at the spot where Delphine stood merely ten minutes ago.


	2. Strangers but No Longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the meet cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me so long to update the fic because I could not think of a meet cute for them. I am sorry but this is the best I could come up with. Hope you enjoy and please leave comments :)

Chapter II

Delphine set down the last of her luggage on the floor near the door of her motel room. She has taken four bus transfers since landing in Quebec City and hasn't slept for 36 hours. In between buses, she would half carry, half drag her bags to the station, and her arms were already sore. She opened the bag containing the stem cell canisters and opened the minifridge to store them. 

The blonde fell down on the bed. It was stiffer than what she was usual In fact, her entire travel was more rogue than what Delphine was accustomed to. Leekie loved to travel first class and check in 5-star hotels. But economy and this cheap hotel room were all she could afford. The clones were not allowed to have money of their own, and Leekie would notice if there is a significant change in her bank account. She has never traveled alone before, let alone without Leekie. 

Delphine was toying with the zipper of her purse when she took out her passport. The picture was taken four years ago. Hair up, lips closed. Her name says Delphine Margot Moreau Beraud but of course, it wasn't her real name. She was just Delphine Cormier from Chamonix who disappeared from the foster system on the eve of her eighth birthday. She was a smart kid, a prodigy as her foster parents and teachers used to say, which was why she was in Leekie's radar in the first place. Without Leekie, Delphine would never have had the kind of education she had. Although he lived in Stockholm, he had Delphine placed in the best French boarding schools because he said she wanted her to keep her accent. By 16, she had her first degree in Biochemistry. In three years, she was a doctor of basic medicine. At twenty-two, she earned her Ph.D. in immunology. She was doing her post-doctorate in genetic engineering at 27 when Leekie pulled her out of university and introduced her to DYAD Corporation. At DYAD, she was told that she would be able to work on groundbreaking research involving human clones. Human clones! The ethical issues involved in the project alone was mind-numbing, even for Delphine, considering the work she used to do for Leekie, but it was not like she had a choice. Leekie had just contracted her services to DYAD, which showed how much the project meant to him. He does not like keeping Delphine out of sight.

"When the clones have been studied thoroughly, you can write your postdoc dissertation on the topic! Forget about cell biology! You are going to work with living, breathing, multicellular organisms!" Leekie said excitedly as he hugged Delphine from behind. The blonde stared out the window of their 5-star hotel room as Leekie's arms closed around her waist. She shut her eyes, but the image the women's shared face from the pictures in the files handed to her was already burnt behind her lids.

She held her burner phone in her hand, meant to call MK's familiar face, maybe even see her other friends' similar faces, but the exhaustion from travel got the better of Delphine, and she was soon dozing on the bed in an awkward position,   
her soft snores permeating the small, moldy room.

Delphine awoke to the sound of her grumbling stomach. She held on to her tummy to ease the ache as she sat up. She lit up her phone's screen to look at the time, which has adapted to her current timezone. She mentally calculated the time difference between her and the clones, and the number of hours she hasn't been in contact with them.

"Merde!" she said underneath her breath. They would be dying of worry by now. Delphine tapped on the green phone sign and waited for someone to pick up the call.

"Delphine, oh my god, we've been so worried!" It was Alison.

"I'm sorry, I kinda dozed off as soon as I got to my room."

"What about the stem cell canisters?" MK came into view.

"I put them in the fridge before I went to bed, don't worry."

"Hey, let me, can I see her?" Delphine saw Sarah elbow the other two from behind before she came into view.

"How was your flight, chicken?" she asked, her face truly concerned. Delphine blushed at the pet name. Leekie had several such names for Delphine, but none of them made her feel warm the way she does when Sarah calls her chicken, or Helena calls her cub.

"The flight was uneventful, I went through customs just fine. As soon as I began explaining to them my fake study grant and my research on stem cells and regeneration, the officer let me thro--," Delphine's narration was interrupted by a rumbling sound.

"What was that?" Alison asked, alarmed.

"That would be my stomach. I haven't had anything since the plane."

"Then go eat something, dummy," Sarah said, teasing. "Then call us after, we can wait." 

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" the clones said in chorus. "Go."

"Alright, I'll see you later," Delphine said. The clones waved her goodbye before she ended the call.

Delphine approached the sink inside the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She changed her underwear and shirt before looking at her face in the mirror. This was 27-year-old Delphine, old and centuries away from the girl who lived in Chamonix, jumping from one family to another. Her parents had died in a car crash when she was five, along with her baby brother. Her parents had immigrated to France when she was in the womb and thus, she had no other near relatives. Delphine no longer remembers much of her family, and what little she could, she tries hard not to replay in her mind. As a scientist, Delphine knew that people remember things not exactly the way they happened, and the more one looks back at a memory, the more it plays a trick on you. She wanted to remember her family the way it actually was, not some made up fantasy world of what she thinks an ideal family ought to be. That was why ever since she learned how to write, she has taken up journaling. 

Delphine stretched out her hands in front of her. She always found something to use her hands for. First, it was her diary entries as a kid, and then all those aptitude and IQ tests they made her take which introduced her to Dr. Leekie. And then it was mixing chemicals in the laboratory, rotating the lenses of a microscope, and the cold, hard keys of a computer keyboard in order to write her many papers and dissertations. Lately, it was to shoot up stem cells in dying clones, a job for which she was way overqualified. But she never remembers a time she used her hands to pick up dirt to throw at a playmate or a snowball. Changing schools and foster families from time to time made it difficult for Delphine to make friends. Her first real friends were the clones she was desperately trying to keep alive, and for whom she agreed to go on a suicide mission to help a stranger. She thought how curious it was that this Cosima shared genetic makeup with her friends, yet remain a stranger to them all.

Delphine tied her hair up in a bun, a few tendrils of blonde hair fell down her face but she didn't mind. She thought how to explain everything to Cosima when they finally meet. She knows from Siobhan that Cosima was a doctor, into forensics, so she would be able to at the very least keep up with the science. Yet the work they do over at the DYAD Institute bordered on science fiction. For her sake, she hoped that this Cosima could suspend her disbelief. 

Delphine grabbed her purse and something to read, a copy of the latest Scientific American she picked up at the airport. All these manual work left Delphine feeling afraid that several of her brain cells had died. She then quietly headed for the small diner she saw a block away from her motel. Delphine crossed her arms over her torso as she sped up her pace on the sidewalk. Cars flew past her, occupants probably eager to head to a place Delphine never had: home. The blonde shivered, the goosebumps on her skin rising. Why she only had a thin sweater on in the evening of October, she could only attribute to a bunch of dead brain cells.

A smile escaped her lips as she was greeted by heated air the moment she stepped inside the diner. The man at the bar was busy polishing glasses, oblivious to the blonde's presence. She sat down in a booth away from the window, her eyes downcast. Delphine opened her magazine and buried her face in it. She only looked up when a waitress came by to take her order. The waitress was a plump, motherly figure to whom Delphine instantly warmed up. The woman, Delphine thought to be about fifty, had her small round spectacles sitting just on top of her nose bridge, giving her round pink face the image of beediness. Her hair was neatly tied up in a bun, whatever stray stand held up with bobby pins. Her name tag was pinned above the right breast pocket of her pink uniform. Daisy.

"Would you like a menu, dear?" the woman said, her eyes smiling.

"Oh, no need, I know what I want. I want a big breakfast, your biggest," Delphine replied, blushing slightly. She knew it was almost eight in the evening, but it was her first meal of the day.

"Hungry, are we?" the woman replied.

"Starving," Delphine said.

"No shame, no shame," the woman said. "May I suggest a serving of our famous eggs benedict with a side of hashbrowns, bacon, sausages, and a stack of pancakes?"

"Sounds good," Delphine replied. She honestly didn't think she could finish all those but she was too tired and hungry to think.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your coffee or tea?" 

"Tea please, Lady Grey."

"Got it, darling, be right back," Daisy said, smiling before she disappeared into the kitchen. Delphine once again buried her face in the magazine. She tried to read a random page, but words flew by her eyes without really lending comprehension. The grumbling of her stomach was distracting, to say the least. She was glad people are only starting to pour into that tiny diner. The hunger is real.

"The hunger is real, huh?" she heard a voice of a woman say. Delphine clutched at her stomach and looked up. Her jaw dropped. Were her thoughts just read by someone else?

"I'm sorry, I mean, that has got to be the corniest cover title that Scientific American has ever produced," the stranger said. Delphine gave this stranger a once-over. She was petite, her slender frame leaning against Delphine's table. The girl wore a red trenchcoat that would make her stand out of any crowd, even without the help of her hair which was in dreads, or her thick-rimmed black eyeglasses, or that big, stupid smile plastered on her familiar face. Delphine didn't like being caught off guard, especially when she is starving. She hadn't expected to find Cosima - or for Cosima to find her - without effort. Has Siobhan taken care of it all, does Cosima know everything? Delphine had no way of finding out, so she decided to play it by the ear.

"I-uh," Delphine stammered. She closed the magazine to look at the cover page, to which she hasn't paid attention to until now. The words THE HUNGER IS REAL are splashed across the page in blue, some feature on an important discovery on the primitive human diet. She was not interested. She's dealing with clones, not the pre-historic past, but the future! and one is standing right in front of her.

"You read," the moment she said it she swore it was the stupidest conclusion she has ever made. Cosima's smile grew even wider. Delphine wanted to wipe it off her pretty little face. 

"Uh, yeah, the brave new world generally has a high literacy rate," Cosima said, winking. 

'There it goes again, that smile. Don't her facial muscles tire from all the effort?' Delphine thought. Why it irked her so much, she had no idea. Sarah smiled a lot, too, and Helena. Alison and MK probably smiled less often, but they did, and Delphine loved it. Yet something unsettles within Delphine's stomach whenever she glances upon Cosima's face and sees her lips curl into that smug smile.

"I-I didn't mean that...would you like to sit?" Delphine offered, an offer which Cosima took swiftly.

"I know, I was just teasing, I know you meant that I read Scientific American...I have an online subscription, I haven't seen a physical cover in a long time," Cosima said, lightly tapping the magazine. "I was kidding, too, about the brave new world? I was assuming you are French," Cosima continued. The smile was replaced with sincere eyes and Delphine wished it back the moment it was gone.

"Uh, yes, I am. I'm sorry, where are my manners, I'm Delphine," she said, extending a hand.

"Cosima," the girl replied. 

'I know,' Delphine thought. "Enchanté"

"Enchanté" Cosima replied, trying to mimic her accent and smiling when she realized how fake it was. There it goes again. Something flipped inside Delphine's stomach, but she decided that she preferred a world where Cosima smiled. 

"Here's your breakfast, missy," Daisy came back with her order breaking their contact. Cosima's eyes widened when she saw all the food. 

"Enjoy," Daisy smiled, and left them to tend to another customer.

"Wow, no offense but, where would you fit all of these?" Cosima remarked.

"I'm sorry, I am not very familiar with the brave new world's serving proportions," Delphine countered. "Besides, I was prepared to order for two."

Cosima crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to be shocked. "Ask a girl out for coffee first before you buy her breakfast."

"Hmmm, cheeky" Delphine smiled through her pancakes. "Yet you're the one who came barging into this one person party."

Cosima frowned then furrowed her eyebrows, but once again smiled and shook her head when Delphine broke into laughter.

"Now, you're the one teasing," Cosima said. 

"You think only Northern Americans know how to play with words? Come on, dig in. I can't finish these by myself" Delphine replied. She tried so hard to sound clever when in truth, she didn't know what to say. Leekie would always speak for her whenever they met strangers. Delphine recognized what she was currently engaged in as banter. She only knew it from the way Sarah and Helena would always pick on Alison. Cosima seemed to be an expert at it, like the two other clones. 

"So, you're alone, in this city?" Cosima asked, rather boldly, in Delphine's thought. The blonde didn't answer right away, she didn't want to come off as to eager to get into Cosima's pants. No, she knew she used that expression wrong. Something was wrong with Cosima's sudden presence. She was almost sure it was not Siobhan's doing, or she would have mentioned it by now, something as important as this. Instead, she was engaged in flirting. Flirting? She used a wrong term again. Where did Cosima come from anyway?

"Don't worry about me, I'm a regular here, Daisy knows me, or she'd throw me out for pestering you, she doesn't tolerate these things," Cosima said.

"You're not pestering, Cosima, and I can't finish these alone, please," Delphine said, offering up more pancakes. Cosima eagerly took the food, their hands and arms working like a well-oiled machine as they ate, for Delphine, it was like they were an old, married couple who fell in this boring routine of eating breakfast years ago.

'Married? Flirting, banter, teasing, getting into her pants?' Delphine wondered where these thoughts came from.

"So I think you're guessing I'm not just a stranger barging in for a free meal?" Cosima said, in between mouthfuls of egg.

"Really? What are you doing here, then, talking to a boring french maid?" Delphine said. She was eager to hear what Cosima had to say. Maybe she was about to bring Siobhan up.

"I play here, at around 9," Cosima replied.

"Like in a band?" Delphine asked, disappointed at her answer. She was not surprised though. The rest of the clones can sing. Alison plays the piano. Helena even makes her own working instruments.

"More of a one-woman show, guitar...acoustic...you know, they call it here Slowdown Sundays."

"It's Sunday?" Delphine asked, almost choking. She couldn't believe she was gone that long. She reminded herself that she had to set the plan in motion as soon as possible. She has concluded that Cosima was most likely clueless. Yet the girl was in front of her, conversing with her. Delphine gave herself credit for the progress, she didn't even have to try.

"If you're not doing anything, maybe you can stay and watch me? My set runs for less than an hour, I'll buy your beer," Cosima replied. Delphine nodded.

"Gee, thanks, I hate playing for strangers. Most of my friends never come when I ask them to, they don't really like the food here. But you're not a stranger, at least not anymore." Cosima said, smiling once again. And was that blush on her face that Delphine saw? She tried to disregard it.

Cosima stood up, fixing her coat. "Well, I gotta get my gear back in the car and set up, you'd be okay being by yourself for a while?"

"Oui," Delphine replied. She had been alone most of her life. Cosima once again grinned then winked at the blonde. It was Delphine's turn to blush.

Cosima turned around and walked towards the door of the diner. She turned her collar up as she mumbled to herself. 

"What the hell, Cosima, so you're a singer-songwriter now? How is that story supposed to hold up," a male voice said over the earpiece Cosima just put on her left ear.

"I'll deal with Daisy, don't worry about her, she'd be delighted to hear me sing," Cosima mumbled.

"We don't have your "gear"," Cosima could almost hear the air quotes in his voice. "Not even a single guitar! This wasn't part of the plan."

"Well, you better find me one in ten minutes, Art," Cosima replied.


End file.
